David Baerwald

David Baerwald (born on July 11, 1960 in Oxford, Ohio) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and musician. He has one son, Beker Baerwald. He is the son of Hans Baerwald, a political scientist, and Diane Moore, a psychologist. He has two sisters, Andrea, a Braille translator, and Jan, a paralegal.

His songs can be found on 27 million albums sold in the US and Europe.

Career

Baerwald first came to prominence in 1987 as one half of the duo David & David, with David Ricketts. David and David's sole album "Boomtown" went platinum and stayed on the Billboard album chart for over a year, winning substantial critical acclaim, including Album of the Year from Rolling Stone Magazine. The duo split up following the success of that album for unexplained reasons.

Following the breakup of David and David, Baerwald focussed himself on writing for others, often under pseudonyms, though he found time to record and release two albums: "Bedtime Stories"; a romantic album based around tales of suburban ennui and decay; and "Triage"; an ambitious narrative song-suite focussed on the fringe-dwellers of America's paranoid and disaffected subcultures. Both albums were released to critical triumph and commercial disaster.

In fall of 1992, with friend and producer Bill Bottrell, he cofounded the Tuesday Night Music Club, which then helped launch the career of Sheryl Crow.

His songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists ranging from the aforementioned Crow to artists as disparate as Japanese classical artists the Yoshida Brothers, opera legend Luciano Pavarotti, rebel-country frontrunner Waylon Jennings, Bangles front woman Susanna Hoffs, country star LeeAnn Rimes, jazz artist Holly Cole, critic's darling Jesca Hoop, and actor/singers Kristen Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Ewan Magregor, Ethan Hawke, Hayden Pannettiere, Ashley Simpson, and Steven Strait, among many others.

As a lyricist, Baerwald is known for his cold eye, precise language and occasional bursts of romanticism. As a composer, his taste ranges from derivations of the simplest of folk-inspired melodies to instrumental music which is often experimental, cerebral and difficult to categorize, though usually containing a strong melodic line.

Outside of popular music, Baerwald has worked extensively as both a songwriter and instrumental score composer in film and television, including the Golden Globe-nominated song from the 2001 motion picture Moulin Rouge! called "Come What May", for which he also won the International Film Music Award, and which has been covered by a wide variety of international artists. He is also a skilled multi-instrumentalist, with a primary focus on stringed instruments.

Recent projects include the ABC show, "October Road", and the Showtime series' "Sexual Healing" and "Pleasure For Sale". In 2009 he completed work on the Matt Damon/Chris Moore film "The People Speak", for which he also co-produced an album of the same name with life-long friend and associate Tony Berg, featuring Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pink, Eddie Vedder, and others.

As of late 2009 he is residing peacefully in Los Angeles, scoring the CW series, "Life Unexpected" and pursuing private studies in music theory and martial arts.

Laurie Kaplan

Discography

Albums

• Boomtown (1986) David & David
• Bedtime Stories (1990)
• Triage (1992)
• Hurlyburly (1998)
• A Fine Mess (1999)
• Here Comes The New Folk Underground (2002)

Other contributions

• 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin - Broadcasts Vol.10 (2002) - "Political Science"

External links

• David Baerwald Info Source
• puremusic.com David Baerwald
• David Baerwald at aol.com
• David Baerwald at last.fm
• http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=DAVID|BAERWALD&sql=11:jifqxqw5ldse~T32